some questions on gardening

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I second the motion on peppers and tomatoes, but disagree on the taters. We feel like there is no comparison between store bought taters and fresh dug taters. Buy seed potatoes. Cut them into chunks, each chunk having 2 eyes, set them in a cool dry place and let them "harden off" for 2 or 3 weeks. Dig a 1 ft deep furrow and lay the sets in @ 4" to 6" spacings, and cover with 3 or 4 " of dirt. Each time the plants start to emerge, cover them with a couple more inches of dirt. contioue this until you end up with a mound where there was a furrow. When plants begin to flower, it's ok to start harvesting. Sroe your crop in the ground right where they grow. Only dig up what you plan to use, and only dig more when you want more.

Tim
 
Hey Chris, don't forget the serrano and habanerno peppers.

And Jeff, count me a yes vote on gardening section. Why not start a poll?

Tim
 
Another great way to grow potatoes, especially if you are limited on space, is in tractor tires. Scrub the inside of the tire and lay it flat on the ground. Throw your seeds in, and cover with straw. Lay another tire on top, throw in some more seeds and cover with straw. When you are ready to harvest, peal off a tire a there they are.
 
My cousin used to do that years ago when he lived in a trailer park and didn't have much space. His yard was so small, he had to use car tires. It works well, and the composted straw is good for the garden next year.

Tim
 
Now that is one heck of an idea on planting them in a furrow that deep DDBBQ. I always just pull the dirt up around them as they grow the way Grandad did. Between my job and the early spring weather it is a little hard to keep up with some years. Basically the same principle, just gets pretty much all the more time consuming work part done at planting time. I think it would be much quicker to move down the row and push in a couple inches of dirt like that. Thanks man!

What is the purpose of letting the eye pieces "harden off"? I've never done that, just cut my chunks out of the seed taters at planting time and right into the ground. Never had a problem, but I'm interested.

As for the straw and taters it sure works. I got behind a couple years ago and my taters was getting pretty tall and I hadn't been able to keep my hills hoed up like they should be. I'd heard of the straw method but never tried it. Long story short, I had a bunch of straw left over from winter I had bought to straw my dog houses with. I just real quickly busted up bales and pretty much just covered two rows of tater plants about a foot thick. About a week later the plants came through the straw and we had taters as usual that year except virtually no digging.

On edit: Actually I think I know/remember what the hardening off is for. Supposed to help prevent rot before they take off and grow, right? I don't usually do it because I can live with my taters not being in the ground too early. Locally, the 'ol husband's tale magic day is St. Patrick's Day. Gotta be in the ground before St. Pat's day.
rolleyes.gif
 
I always have a row or two each year. My dad used to grow enough for an army and I kind of backed off from his extreme gardening. You are right though they are good.
 
Chris,

I gather you have limited space for a garden. May I suggest a book to you? "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. I ran across his PBS show many years ago and while I was still developing my real estate and living in apartment buildings as I renovated them. Usually thetre was not much space for one of my loves, gardening.

Bartholomew not only shows you how to get incredible yields from small gardens he also delves into seed starting, soil conditioning and the care of plants from seed to table. It is a must read for anyone interested in gardening regardless of your experience or the size of your plot.

If you cannot find a new copy, he just published a revision twp years ago, PM me and I can hook you up with a local supplier who deals on the net as well.

You will love the book and Bartholomew has a great style and explains everything very clearly and simply. He was my guru for many years as I stratched dollars and space. He never did touch on the tin foil and grow lights bvut he and I are from the same era and I am sure he would happily give a few private pointers :D

Cheers!
 
Jeff,

You know I will put some effort into a gardening forum. Let's go with another one. Was sorry to see the last one go out. Just never cought on, I guess. And of course there are a million and two gardening forums out there. Home Depot just started one!

Perhaps keeping it a part of this forum would be a beter approach,

Cheers!
 
randy, i have a 10-gallon and a 135-gallon aquarium. my big one has big predator fish; real aggressive fish. i get alot of fertilizer out of that one, that just goes in the yard right now.
monty, i have a huge back yard, just planned on going with where gardens have been in the past here. i can go bigger. the area i had planned is ~20'x20'. thanks for the book info. i will look for it.
i didn't plan on habanero or serrano peppers, because habaneros are too hot for me, and i have never tried serranos.
 
ahhh, another aquariumist? i have a big clown knife, a tiger oscar, a jaguar, an african brown knife, a bichir, a pleco, and a small member of the catfish family. the cat is ~5" long, and will stay that size. the jag, about the same as an oscar. the 10 is for feeders as you guessed. here are pics from a few months ago of the oscar and the clown knife. it is hard to get pics of fish. i don't have one of the jag. the clown is the first pic. you can see a bit of the bichir (upper right) and a bit of the jag (lower right) in the oscar pic though.
6804ccbf_vbattach11641.jpg

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... After all what's the point in having fish if you can't eat em? LOL :shock:
 
The smell thing is important. I used fishy stuff once, and every cat within a mile dug everything up.
 
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